I've just started using The GIMP in my new Gentoo/LXDE installation, and in spite of my admiration for the program generally, it now has a most annoying new "feature". I use the standard GIMP layout - Tool Panel on the left, Layer Panel on the right, working windows in the middle.

The problem is this: the Tool and Layer panels are locked onto the top layer, and working windows "slide beneath" them. I've tried using the Window menu to lower them in the stack, the Preferences dialogue which has no such setting, and the Window menu of working windows to raise them to the top, all to no avail. There is no sensible reason that I can see for the utility windows always to be on top, and this "feature" is a confounded nuisance.

This is probably a GIMP-specific issue, although it could be due to an interaction of some sort between it and LXDE; but I thought I'd raise the issue here first before heading to other venues. In early versions of The GIMP, its windows behaved normally; then a version or few ago, the Tool and Layer windows removed themselves from the <Alt-Tab> switching cycle, an inconvenience I learned to live with since I didn't use it much. I'm now faced with several months intensive use and want to fix it.

Has anyone else had a similar problem; and, more importantly, found a way to fix it?

Last edited by 52midnight on Sun Apr 14, 2013 10:12 pm; edited 1 time in total

I don't have a clue where to start to assist you, so defining the problem seems like a good place.

One of the options in xprop is window state... I don't know if it will tell you anything or not, but if it's locked on top, there may be something that jumps out at you._________________Knute
----------
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You can also toggle the tool windows by just pressing Tab_________________“And even in authoritarian countries, information networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more accountable.”– Hillary Clinton, Jan. 21, 2010

... and when I activate a GIMP working window behind a window from another app, it doesn't 'raise' - i.e. it remains 'behind' the inactive app window.

Also, If you open a file in a new window, the new window is NOT raised; if it's small, it remains 'behind' the active window, and therefore invisible. Someone in the GIMP team has been playing sillyb***ers with layering, pretty obviously.

Might be on the track of it. The following from /etc/gimp/2.0/gimprc suggests that the problem CAN be fixed, though I've had no luck yet:

Code:

# The window type hint that is set on the toolbox. This may affect how your
# window manager decorates and handles the toolbox window. Possible values
# are normal, utility and keep-above.
#
# (toolbox-window-hint utility)

# The window type hint that is set on dock windows. This may affect the way
# your window manager decorates and handles dock windows. Possible values
# are normal, utility and keep-above.
#
# (dock-window-hint utility)

# When enabled, dock windows (the toolbox and palettes) are set to be
# transient to the active image window. Most window managers will keep the
# dock windows above the image window then, but it may also have other
# effects. Possible values are yes and no.
#
# (transient-docks no)

I'm experimenting with putting these params in ~/.gimp-2.6/gimprc with various values ...

I'm using KDE.
I had the same problem with Gimp-2.7.x
Now I'm running 2.8.4.
If my memory serves me right I solved it in the following way:
Start Gimp,uncheck single window mode.
Make sure your toolbox is visible,if it's not the check your panel.
If you see it then close Gimp.
Restart Gimp,the center or drawing window will be small.
Move and drag it to fill the space between the toolbox and the layers windows.
Now check single window mode and close Gimp.
When you close Gimp it will save the last setup.
When you restart Gimp it should behave and the toolbox should remain visible.
Mind you I did this quite a while ago and my memory is not the best.
Gerard._________________To install Gentoo I use sysrescuecd.Based on Gentoo,has firefox to browse Gentoo docs and mc to browse (and edit) files.
The same disk can be used for 32 and 64 bit installs.
You can follow the Handbook verbatim.
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